Hello,
My husband and I will be traveling to Italy in April for 12 days. We have gone back and forth as whether to start or end in Rome or Florence. Some of that has dealt with flight costs and some scheduling as we are spending some of part of our travels with our daughter who in studying in Florence. There is a possibility we are traveling during Easter which I'm a little unsure about though not sure we have a choice. We want to see a lot but not loose the fact were on vacation and enjoy the places as much as the sites. I'd like advise on the flow of places and recommendations based on what weve planned out to date. The 12 days consist of 4 nights in Rome, 1 night in Sorrento after going to Pompeii that day between Rome and Sorrento, Amalfi 4 nights and Florence 3 nights. we looked at staying in Amalfi as our base, and thinking of going to capri, positano and ravello. Our daughter will be with us in Amalfi and we'll go onto Florence with her before we leave to go back home. from Florence we looked at going truffle hunting for half a day. Personally I wish we had more time in Florence and less in Rome but schedule wise I think thats how it has to be. would you suggest another base for when were in Amalfi? Any good boat tours? things to do everywhere in the spring season? If we are in Italy for Easter how do you think best to embrce versus feeling stuck in the chaos of crowds.
Thank you!

Amalfi is busy, but our preferred base for the coast as well - it's the transport hub and very convenient for everything you want to do in a short time. You dont need to move another base on the Amalfi Coast. Atrani, maybe 10 minutes away from Amalfi is quieter and smaller.

Here’s my understanding of your plan:

· 3 days in Rome, during which you might be recovering from jet lag. I usually think a cursory first visit to Rome requires a minimum of 4 full days. YMMV.

· 1 day to visit Pompeii enroute from Rome to Sorrento. No time for Naples.

· 3 days along the Amalfi Coast, with plans to visit Capri (that would take a full day), Ravello (well worth a full day, or at least most of one), and Positano in addition to Amalfi. Workable, IMO, depending on your pace, preferences, and interests. IMO, Amalfi is a good choice for a place to stay, given your interests.

· 2 days in Florence. FWIW, I felt hard pressed to see what I wanted to see in Florence in 5 full days … but I’m a great fan of Renaissance art and architecture.

So for my tastes, your trip is overly ambitious … but it really depends on what YOU want to see and experience. If you haven’t already done so, I’d encourage you to consult the Michelin Green and/or Rough Guides for these areas – they provide excellent coverage.

As for Easter, I’d plan my trip to avoid Rome at that time. Again, YMMV.

I hope that helps!

We did an 11 day trip to Rome and Sorrento pre-Covid. Sorrento was a good base for seeing Pompeii, Herculaneum, Naples, and Capri. It also had good connections to the sites on the Amalfi coast. Adding in Florence was not what we were interested in. I think that since Florence is required for you, fitting everything you want into your time slot is not going to be really feasible, especially if the 12 days include arrival and departure days.
My trip report" The Peabody Papers: A Mostly True Tale of AJ and Mrs. P's Visit to Italy

thank you ANUJ. Atrani looks very nice. Is it a pretty walk to visit there from Amalfi? we though about the hike of the gods but as most have mentioned were are already crunched for time. always wish we had more

Hi kja, Thank you for your response. I agree it's overly ambitious, just not sure what to take out. We will arrive in Rome Friday morning and be there until we decide to leave on Tuesday for Pompeii. I'm sure Friday will be a walking around Rome jet lag kind of day.
Do you have any suggestions of hotels? I've actually not booked nay ofmy hotels yet - scary I know! So suggestions at sorrento, Amalfi and Florence would be much appreciated

Wish we could go to naples but figured better for another trip. Unless you suggest something different for the time between Rome and meeting our daughter in Amalfi Wednesday evening. We will have Wednesday to do something on our own. Do we go straight to Amalfi that morning? i had thpught a boat ride to Capri however I know our daughter wants to go there.

Sad we have 2 days in Florence.
We will arrive Florence Sunday from Amalfi and then fly home on Wednesday afternoon.

Thank you for the suggestion of guides. ive not used those particular ones before. All very helpful! thanks again.

Thank you AJ Peabody. I will check out your trip report which is so wonderful to have, many thanks! We have 13 days including arrival and departure days.

AJPeabody - I loved your wonderful trip report! I have one question, we are traveling from Rome to Sorrento and within that day planning to tour Pompeii . I had also thought maybe see Herculaneum that day as well. I know you did both in one day but didnt have the extra travel from Rome. Do you think both in one day is too much for my situation or if you had to choose between the two could you and which would you rather see?

I was sad the hotel in Rome isnt available for some of the days were there. ill keep looking but open to suggestions of alternatives always. thanks again for sharing!

OMG, you don’t have your accommodations yet? My advice: Look at booking.com ASAP.

I visited Pompeii and Herculaneum on the same VERY long day from Naples (not Rome). I’m glad I did, but it was exhausting. IIRC, I spent 5 or 6 hours at Pompeii and another 2 at Herculaneum, and I would not call either visit leisurely. I honestly don’t see how you can have a meaningful visit to both those sites on the same day if trying to do so en route from Rome to Sorrento. And if you want to see even just Pompeii on that day, I don’t think you can laze around Rome “until you decide to leave”—you would, I think, need to leave as early as you can.

As for Pompeii vs. Herculaneum, they are very different … and there are a LOT of threads on Fodor’s about the differences. Here’s one:
Pompeii or Herculaneum? Or Both? Vesuvius?

Rome is among the easiest places to reach in Italy from the U.S. Frankly, I’d skip it on this trip (much as I love it) to make more time for Amalfi and Florence, to which you seem committed. But it’s your trip, your call!

I actually don't think your plan is too bad, although I might be tempted to push on to Amalfi after Pompeii to avoid a hotel change. Of course you don't have a swag of time but 4, 4, 3 nights is fine I think (not sure about the one night stop, which I tend to avoid). We all want more time everywhere and a more leisurely pace but that isn't always possible. If you want to slow it down, the obvious thing to do is drop one place (apart from Sorrento, which only saves one night) and as Florence is a must, then it would be choosing between Rome and Amalfi.

I don't mind 4, 4, 3 night itineraries if they make sense for the destinations. IMO, that pace (whether very fast or certainly if leisurely) doesn't suit Rome, the Amalfi Coast, and Florence. That said, if we all traveled in the same ways, life would be quite boring! It really depends, I think, on what the OP wants to see and experience.

Considering the time overhead of changing location, doing anything big (e.g. Pompeii) during the day travelling Rome to Sorrento would be impossible. Overhead equals: Pack, breakfast, get to train with enough time to get tickets and find track in an unfamiliar place with enough spare time not to miss the train, getting to Naples, changing train to get to Sorrento (after getting tickets), getting to Sorrento, getting to hotel (you already selected it and booked it, right?), checking in, plus having had lunch somehow, well, that's a full day. Doing Pompeii and Herculaneum is certainly feasible for a day with nothing else, but both involve quite a bit of walking. You don't want to see them in the rain, either.

I don't know where you are getting your ideas of the time you need to get to places and see things, but your plans are so overly optimistic as to be considered foolhardy. I plead with you: Rethink your plans.

I thought I’d read that the Pompeii site has luggage storage. A fast train from Rome to Naples is an hour plus arrival at Roma Termini. Naples to Pompeii is 30min, plus wait time.

If that’s the case wouldn’t it be possible to take an early-ish train to Pompeii via Naples, arriving there mid morning or perhaps even earlier. Then after visiting Pompeii take a train to Sorrento and, optionally, bus to Amalfi. Shower, aperitivo and dinner. A busy day but not impossible I would have thought. Then 4 or 5 nights relaxed exploring. What am I missing?

Hi Dreamon, Yes, that's correct and our plan for rome to pompeii and lastly sorrento, where we'll stay the next 2 nights. we only travel with carry ons so hopefully it will be easy to check at the train station.

our plans are built around our daughter, when she is available to travel with us and be in florence during our time in Italy. my husband has never been to italy and it's been years since i've been to rome so thats our reason for choosing it as well as being easier and less expensive flights. Our flights are booked, unable to change.

Here's a bit of an update Im thinking on our logistics with the sorrento and Amalfi portion of our trip. id love any insight on this. our daughter can only travel from Florence to join us starting wednesday afternoon. So we thought getting her to sorrento is best due to the time she can catch the train from there. That has my husband and i spending 2 nights in sorrento and we'll all have 3 nights in Amalfi. so 4, 2, 3 ,3 nights now..

For reference: !2 Night Italy Trip
Friday morning arrive from US to Rome - free day suggestions for that day?
Sat. morning semi private tour of the vatican sistine chapel etc.
Sunday Easter Sunday - free day - suggestions?
Monday - morning semi private tour of colosseum and ancient Rome
Tuesday travel to pompeii - night in sorrento ( currently i have a pompeii tour for the afternoon but it can be cancelled) we coukld get there earlier or go to herculieum before or any other suggestions?
Wednesday Sorrento free day - daughter arrives that evening - suggestions for day activities - lunch and dinner?
Thursday Boat tour day Sorrento - capri - amalfi - night in Amalfi
Friday - Amalfi as base - want to see ravello and positano
Saturday - Amalfi - ravello or positano
Sunday - travel to florence - not sure how to best use this day - leave early and have more time in Florence or stay a bit and have a little more time in Amalfi??
Monday Florence - daughter time in the morning - and for dinner- free time from afternoon until 7:30pm suggestions?
Tuesday Florence - free time until 3:30 can meet up with daughter then suggestions of day/night activities restaurants?
Wednesday Afternoon flight to US

Note: our daughter has seen most of the sites in florence so probably best for us to do that while she's unavailable. she does want to go to the gucci museum thats about it for museums for her. we'll plan to mainly walk in diffeent areas of florence shes not been and/or hav eher show us her favorite spot there.

Thank you for all your help, Lee Ann

Thank you AJ Peabody, I think its hopefully pretty easy logistics - like 2 hr travel time from Rome to pompeii - 1 change. ill paln to reserve the high speed train soon and regional train once in Italy. My understanding is train terminals close to one another - 5 min walk. we have light carry on luggage so hopefully pretty easy walk. we scheduled a tour thinking that could somewhat simplify our day.

our tour is in the afternoon - can be cancelled. if we arrivewd earlier would you suggest going to herculeum or something else before? We are doing the highlight tour of Pompeii.

i figure everywhere we are going deserves are return and deeper dive. thanks again for your help,

Thank you kja, I couldnt agree with you more. We'll have to come back to these places and give them a proper visit. we are thinking we'll do 4,2,3,3 regarding nights in hotels.
thanks again for your help

hi kja, yes getting on the hotels now - got super busy and trip got set aside. thanks for the link- Ill check it out.
id skip rome but have airline tickets already and like you said chose it for ease and expense plus it fit with my daughters schedule and thought a great intor to italy for my husband. I also have never been to Pompeii so excited to see it and our daughter chose Amalfi
i guess flying into naples for pompeii and Amalfi is best? next time

a return trip(s) to italy is a must! Thanks again for your help

Hi, so our trip is finally coming together. Trains, Hotels some tours booked.

Florence is the one place Ive not booked tours yet. we only have the two full days unfortunately. we arrive a sunday afternoon and fly out wednesday afternoon. so 3 evenings allowing for maybe a nice dinner and sunset our first night. Are there any restaurants that we cant miss and that i shoulkd try to get a reservation?

Amalfi ,The boat tour ive not booked. the hotel in sorrento sent me a few options but they werent really what we were looking for as wed hoped to take a traditional boat instead of more of a speed boat. Any help with reputable semi private/private boat tours would be much appreciated.

thank you!